What to do when you’re tired of your struggle

(Inside: Steps to take to find hope in your pain. What to do when you’re tired of your struggle.)

 

A note before you start reading: I highly recommend professional help. If you can’t move past your struggle and the pain feels overwhelming there are amazing professionals out there who want to help you. Make your number one goal be to find a qualified and competent person to help you walk through and past your life challenge. Persist until you find the right doctor/counselor/psychologist. You got this, strong momma!

 

What to do When You’re Tired of Your Struggle

 

You know how outside elements – hail, debris or small rocks – have bounced off the windshield of your car with no damage a thousand times before? But then, for whatever the reason, perhaps the size of the debris, angle it hits, or speed you’re driving, one tiny pebble pounds into your windshield and starts a spider web of cracks.

 

Have you also had moments in your life like that? A difficult relationship, a tricky situation, an illness, expectations that blew up in your face… You’ve weathered similar storms before, but this time’s different. This situation, it’s the pebble that started splitting your windshield in wild directions.

 

You can’t shake it off; you can’t move forward. You’re stuck in a deep valley.

 

It’s frustrating because you want to be a person of great faith, like Elijah, an Old Testament prophet. When Israel’s rulers had turned to Baal worship and killed God’s prophets, Elijah walked into this toxic situation and challenged the Baal prophets to a Who’s-God-Will-Supernaturally-Set-Their-Altar-On-Fire Contest. Baal ignored his praying, dancing, cutting themselves prophets. Yet when Elijah prayed, flames consume his sacrifice. Then Elijah prayed for the drought plaguing the land to end – and the sky broke open (I Kings 18). Elijah was certain the One True God would prevail, and he was right.

 

That confidence, that faith – I want it.

 

 

 

Step 1: Do your best to remove yourself from the stressful situation.

Yet, if you read on we see a different side of Elijah (I Kings 19). Israel’s rulers weren’t exactly happy about this display of glory. Elijah received a vengeful message that the queen was going to have him killed.

 

After this big magnificent faith-building moment – that confident Elijah – he ran. He ran like Forrest Gump. Then sat down, deep in the wilderness and prayed he might die.

 

See that last threat – one he’d received before and weathered – it was the rock that flew up and formed the first crack in his windshield.

 

Step 2: Take care of your physical needs.

So what did God do with this man who was fearful, anxious, depressed and wanting to die? Surely God told him what we tell ourselves: Shake it off, be stronger and move forward.

 

Yet that’s not what God did…

 

Instead, He had him sleep and eat.

 

Step 3: Keep with your normal routine, or start a new routine to give yourself something to focus on as your mind processes the situation.

Then God gave him a break from the situation and from making decisions; He had Elijah travel forty days to Horeb, the Mountain of God. He gave Elijah the gift of mindless purpose, time to think and process his experience as he walked.

 

Step 4: Talk to God & listen for His response.

Then once Elijah reached his destination, God finally asked him what’s wrong. Elijah poured out his frustrations and God responded:

“‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” (I Kings 19:11-12, NIV)

Step 5: Know that God will get you through your pain in His timing.

 

 

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